Class of 2017

Overwhelming crowds at Amma’s memorial

I was there in the crowds outside MGR memorial when the procession to take Jayalalitha’s body took place, that’s where I got a sense of how popular amma is, and how loved she is by the masses. That day I couldn’t go inside, even though I wanted to.

Today, when I was on my way to Marina beach, I was assuming that I won’t get to see that overwhelming love and crowd again. But when I reached, I was amazed to see the crowd; the MGR memorial was full of people. But then I wasn’t entirely impressed by it. What was even more amazing was when people stood in front of amma’s grave. They just stood and even I stood, observing the people and the crowd before approaching anyone. The crowd kept on increasing, people were taking selfies, and kids were sitting on their fathers’ shoulders.

Then I loved ahead and stood in a more open space to talk to people. I spoke to around 12-14 people about their background and why they were at the memorial and how did they plan to come, with whom did they come, met their family members.

I thought language would be an issue but I met people who spoke Hindi, English and those who knew English helped in translating and speaking to other people.

I enjoyed the whole process of reporting and filling stories with photos, videos with deadlines, no matter how much I cribbed.